Merck appoints new chief information officer

Dirk Toepfer joins the group from Metro Systems, where he was head of IT

Science and technology group Merck has appointed new chief information officer to replace Jim Stewart, who will now head Merck Business Services, the function responsible for the group’s shared service centres.

Dirk Toepfer joins Merck from Metro Group, where he served as head of the IT service company Metro Systems.

Commenting on the recent appointment, Udit Batra, chief executive officer of life science and member of the executive board, said: “We are pleased to have Dirk joining us as an internationally experienced IT executive with more than 15 years in senior management positions and strong commercial acumen.

“He has a proven track record in successfully managing large-scale IT transformation initiatives, as well as building cost-effective international IT organisations.”